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Their mouths fell open, and then—like a herd of wildebeests stampeding across the Serengeti—a thunderous shout exploded:
“Schneeeeeeennn!!”
“Waaah! What the hell?!”
Startled out of my wits, I cursed and slammed the door shut. Bam!
I was utterly confident: this was pure survival instinct. No sane person wouldn’t flinch when wild animals come charging while screaming your name.
“They’re not going to break down the door, are they?!”
And that, of course, turned out to be a prophecy. Damn it.
BANG—!! CRASH—!!
The blasted door flew past my head just as I was climbing onto the bed, tore straight through the window, and soared outside. What the hell.
“Schneen!!”
Nobel and Ethan, who had sent the door flying so spectacularly, shouted in unison. The two of them were now right in front of where the door used to be.
With emotional, almost tearful faces, they stretched out their arms toward me.
I’m going to get crushed to death. Realizing there was no escape, I quietly accepted my fate and prayed for the safety of my ribs.
“Schneen…!”
Just before their “hug disguised as a body slam” could crush me—
“Nobel, you single-celled idiot.”
A voice so welcome it nearly made me cry whispered by my ear.
“Isaac…!”
“Sorry. I got caught right away. Let’s go.”
Isaac offered a brief apology, then grabbed my shoulder and whisked me out of the room in an instant.
The moment we stepped outside the mansion’s front gate, a thunderous explosion echoed—
BOOM!!
Debris rained down as my jaw dropped. That—that’s Isaac’s room?!
Even without checking, I knew. The corner of the mansion that just blew up was exactly where we’d been: Isaac’s room.
Isaac calmly admired the scene.
“I figured they might blow the whole place up, but I guess they had the sense to stop there.”
“Wh—What are we going to do?! Your room just…!”
“I told you, my brothers have ignition points below freezing. That was cheap, all things considered.”
“Your room’s gone!!”
“But the mansion’s still standing.”
Ah. Their standard of “worry” was on a completely different level.
And while I was internally reeling, Isaac actually looked me over to check if I was hurt. I couldn’t even muster a proper reaction.
“ISAAC—!!”
Ethan’s roar pierced my ears.
He stood amid the ruins of what used to be Isaac’s room, his green eyes glinting murderously as he glared down at us.
“If you run, you’re dead! Bring Schneen back or you’re a corpse!”
“Try and stop me.”
If you can, that is. Isaac grinned slyly.
You cunning bastard! The two of them unleashed a string of unprintable curses, calling him and me heartless jerks.
“What can you do?”
Isaac covered the back of my hand with his remaining hand. In the distance, Nobel and Ethan’s expressions twisted in fury.
“This is my ability, after all.”
And just before more profanities could be hurled, we vanished from the mansion.
❖ ❖ ❖
Pop—
The blue light faded, revealing the familiar surroundings of my own room.
“T-The mansion…”
“Don’t worry. I’ll have it all fixed by tomorrow.”
“That’s not the point, is it.”
Even as I spoke in disbelief, Isaac just shrugged, dragged over a chair, and, before I could stop him, took off his coat to cover it and gestured.
“Sit for a second. I’ll put some ointment on you.”
“I can do it myself…”
Even in all this chaos, he’d somehow remembered to bring medicine. I spoke hesitantly as he pulled out an ointment jar from his coat, and he paused.
“Oh… I just thought it might be easier if someone else did your face. Is that… okay?”
“……”
“I’ll be careful. I won’t hurt you.”
He knelt slowly in front of the chair and looked up at me.
That voice, perfectly measured to break through refusals, paired with a devastatingly handsome face… He really knew how to use every advantage he had.
Still, no means no.
“No, thank you.”
“Ah.”
“I may not look like it, but I prefer to do what I can myself.”
Just the medicine is more than enough.
I politely took the ointment from him and opened the lid.
Isaac stared blankly for a moment, then suddenly burst out laughing—an unexpectedly bright, genuine laugh.
“Haha, you’re so firm.”
“I’m sorry if that disappointed you.”
“No, it’s very you.”
…And how exactly do you know what’s “very me”?
I didn’t ask, but the curiosity lingered. How do these people know me so well that they can’t seem to leave me alone?
‘It’s not easy to care about someone this much…’
In the original story, all five of them were like this, but Isaac in particular was cold, logical, and calculating.
‘Maybe he asked first and acted like he didn’t care so I’d say yes afterward…’
He was always rational, always strategic—never the type to smile.
That’s why seeing him look at me so fondly, calling me Schneen, felt strange and astonishing.
‘Even this kind of smile wasn’t in the original…’
This world has achieved something even the author (me) didn’t—(along with plenty of other awful things)!
It would be nice if it ended with just this bizarrely impressive development.
I glanced between the open ointment jar and Isaac.
“Well… if you still want to,” I said timidly, holding it out. “You can apply it.”
“Oh.”
Isaac blinked.
I averted my eyes awkwardly. Was that too cocky? It’s not like applying ointment is some big honor. It just felt a bit embarrassing.
I stammered, “Of course, if you don’t want to, that’s fine too…”
“No.”
Just as I was about to pull my hand back, Isaac swiftly took the ointment.
“This is very you, too.”
He smiled—a real, bright smile.
Wow. Holy crap.
It was so dazzling I genuinely marveled at it.
While I sat there dazed, Isaac dipped his fingers in the ointment and brought them to my cheek.
The ointment was like a translucent white gel.
Swish—
His touch was so light it was barely perceptible.
He was being incredibly gentle—until a sharp sting suddenly shot through me.
“Ow.”
He’d accidentally brushed the bruised corner of my mouth.
Isaac quickly pulled back, panicked.
“Sorry! Are you okay? I didn’t mean to—I’ll be gentler…”
“It’s fine! It’s really not that bad!”
I quickly raised my voice, trying to make it seem like no big deal, just to stop him from looking so flustered.
He nodded with a faint grimace, but his expression darkened in that way that made me suspect he was already planning where to bury the Duke.
Click.
Once he finished, he closed the jar and stood.
“That should do for now. Honestly, I’d rather have a doctor take a look, but…”
“I’ll go see one first thing tomorrow.”
“…Alright. If that’s what you want.”
He gave a soft smile and straightened his clothes.
I stood and handed back his coat.
“You’re leaving now?”
“Unfortunately.”
He chuckled as he put his coat back on.
“If I stick around any longer, my single-celled brothers might come storming in here.”
“Haha…”
“It’s too early to blow this place up, after all.”
I think I just heard something dangerous.
For the sake of my mental health, I decided to pretend I hadn’t.
Isaac gave me one last careful look, as if trying to memorize me, then waved lightly.
“See you tomorrow.”
“Yes. Thank you for today.”
“I told you, I should be the one saying that.”
“But your room blew u—”
Before I could finish the sentence, he disappeared, leaving me alone in the room.
“…It still doesn’t feel real.”
It felt like a dream. There was no trace of him anywhere.
I climbed up onto the windowsill out of habit.
The sky was still blue, the gardens wide and green. Down there, Duke and Saren were strolling happily, smiling brightly.
I muttered to myself, “Their faces tomorrow morning are going to be priceless.”
I giggled imagining their expressions when Mary reports that the stable is empty.
Just one day left until I leave this place.
❖ ❖ ❖
Hardenberg Mansion had become even more chaotic.
Returning from their outing, Retilia and the others found that an entire wall of the mansion had been blown away.
“Those lunatics. Both of them.”
Retilia muttered darkly. Nobel and Ethan looked away sullenly.
“How long has it been since we called the repairmen, and you already blew up the wall? And right in front of Schneen, no less.”
“Well that’s because Isaac, that bastard, went to see Schneen alone!”
“And didn’t even tell us he brought her back!”
“Shut up.”
Thud—! With a wave of Retilia’s hand, an invisible force slammed the two into the floor. “Guh!” they groaned weirdly.
“We’re supposed to bring Schneen tomorrow, and this is the mess you made?”
“You didn’t tell us either!”
“You left us out on purpose! Even Hazen complained!”
“And that makes it okay?”
Their faces hit the ground again with a crunch.
Retilia sighed, looking down at the squirming Nobel and Ethan.
“If we’d told you, you would’ve rushed out right away. That’s why we kept quiet.”
“That’s…!”
“Of course!”
“That’s not something to be proud of, you idiots.”
Pressed flat against the floor again, they had no response.
With another sigh, Retilia turned to Hazen, lounging on the nearby sofa.
“Anything to say?”
“Well… it was a bit much… but as long as we bring her tomorrow, right, Retti~?”
“Of course.”
“Then it’s fine… By the way—did you finish the job?”
Hazen asked lazily, his casual tone belying the content.
Retilia nodded without hesitation. Obviously.
“Of course I did.”
Silently wiping out the Kolhart Trading Company’s transport caravan, then using that as leverage to maintain a pretext for approaching the Duke’s family—that had been her mission for over a month, and the purpose of today’s outing.
Only those inside this mansion knew what she’d done.
“This morning, it was already all over the papers. They’re saying we’ve decided to accept the Kolhart daughter.”
“Hm~ Oh right, they did have another daughter…”
Hazen tilted his head thoughtfully, then looked back at Retilia.
“Retti, your clothes got dirty~”
“There were too many of them. It was annoying.”
She tossed aside her blood-spattered uniform jacket and sat with her legs crossed on a nearby chair, her long navy hair cascading behind her.
“They’re all happily clueless.”
She sneered.
How pathetic, that they all assumed the “daughter” in question was obviously Saren Kolhart.
But that much, she could tolerate.
